FISHING WITHOUT NETS

Completed / Kenya / Senegal / US / 104mins

Drama

From global media brand VICE comes FISHING WITHOUT NETS, winner of the Sundance US Dramatic Directing Award. Shot in East Africa using Somali non-actors, the film tells the mesmerizing and sobering story of the bandits from the Somali point of view.

Abdi is principled young fisherman with generations of fishing in his blood. But now the nearby waters are polluted and fish are scarce. Struggling to support his young family, he is lured into the perilous world of piracy. While his wife and baby wait for him in Yeman, an outdated satellite phone is his only connection to all he truly values. Abdi and his fellow pirates hit the treacherous high seas and capture a French oil tanker, demanding a hefty ransom. During the long and tense wait for the cash to arrive, Abdi forges a tentative friendship with one of the hostages. When things take a turn for the worse, Abdi must make dramatic choices to determine his course.

First-time feature filmmaker Cutter Hodierne combines the epic cinematic vision of a glorious action-thriller with the intimate, textured qualities of an art film, humanizing the pirates by bringing us inside their moral dilemmas and gut-wrenching struggles.

VICE is a leading global youth media brand with 36 offices around the world operating an international network of digital channels as well as television, feature film, print, marketing and events divisions.